#150: Family. Circus.

Hi there! Jason Adam Katzenstein here. I'm trying a little experiment with our genius artists this week: 

Comics is the art of juxtaposition. You put two things next to each other, two panels, word and image, cat and lasagna, and from their juxtaposition find new meaning. 

So! All I told them was "Family" and "Circus." Then I watched them cook. And boy is it tasty. Hopefully these toon lasagnas will help you forget how much you loathe Mondays.

Ack! 

Kendra Allenby

Family Circus isn’t for me, I’m a Calvin and Hobbes girl through and through. Give me some weird, or it doesn’t read like childhood to me. Later I found Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson and if you haven’t read that and you’re a Calvin and Hobbes kid, I recommend getting your paws on it immediately. While I’m being pushy, also get some funk brass into your life. If you don’t how to do that, the internet is happy to help.

Navied Mahdavian

One of my seventh grade students, a faithful Catholic, once told me that bad things happen to good people because God, our father in heaven, is "just a bad guy." 


In short, she had solved the problem of evil. 


Personally, I think the big guy just likes a good prank. 

Jason Chatfield

The real-life "Jeffy" from Family Circus is a friend of mine. He once told me the best story about his dad, Bil Keane, who was the creator, and Jeffy's predecessor on the strip. The story was long, funny, silly, and when he told it in a big group of cartoonists it sometimes got a round of applause. All I remember from it is the fact that Jeffy's mother is Australian. That's ADHD for you.
Anyway, here's a cartoon about everything, and also nothing. Also, siblings?

Amy Kurzweil

Was there ever anything as boring as a suburban childhood in the 90s, in a family in which one's brother was too much older than you to consistently play with you? Boredom birthed my creative career, as evidenced in my childhood journals, in which I intoned the ripples and folds of my boredom with exquisite specificity and embodied verbosity, and I quote: "I AM SO BORD I COD SCRYM." -Amy Kurzweil, Saturday, May 8th, 1993. 

Jason Adam Katzenstein

Dads! When they're not trying to make you use silverware, they're always on a monomaniacal quest for one of the great literary metaphors. Classic. 

But wait, there’s more!

• Asher Perlman has a book of cartoons coming out! You an pre-order it here.

• Hilary releases Cartoons by Hilary every Friday!

• Amy Kurzweil’s graphic memoir, Artificial: A Love Story, was named a best book of 2023 by The New Yorker, NPR, and Kirkus!

• Polly Lou Adams has a Substack called The Poop Scoop, where she posts cartoons and comics on a semi-regular basis.

• Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon! Sign up now to get the recording of every past class!

• Jason Chatfield has a new Substack about making art called Process Junkie! And Subscribe to Jason’s regular weekly Substack at NewYorkCartoons.com

• Sofia Warren 's got an advice column! Read it here.

AND HERE COME THE BUTTONS

<3 <3 <3